"Painted pyramid" in Mexican jungle reveals Mayan life during 620 to 700 AD

Published: Monday, November 16, 2009, 18:28 [IST]

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Washington, November 16 (ANI): Exterior walls on a "painted pyramid" buried for centuries in the Mexican jungle have revealed a series of unusual Maya wall murals, complete with hieroglyphic captions, providing archaeologists with a priceless look at day-to-day life in the Mayan empire during 620 to 700 AD.

The murals, discovered in 2004 at the Maya site of Calakmul, depict ordinary people enjoying much more casual pursuits, according to the new, detailed description of the wall art.

"There's really nothing like this in any of the (known) murals. These are totally unexpected," Maya expert Michael D. Coe, curator emeritus at Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History, told the National Geographic News.

"This is everyday life with people who are not upper-crust Maya but rather people engaged in everyday activities," he added.

The colorful artwork shows the clothing and jewelry worn by various social classes in Calakmul, one of the largest cities of the Classic Maya period, which lasted from 300 to 900 AD.

During this era, Calakmul was likely the capital of the Kan (Snake) Kingdom, which held great sway over the Maya world.

The murals also depict common foodstuffs as well as people involved in food preparation and distribution, including a "salt person" and a "tobacco person," as they are labeled in the hieroglyphs.

Other scenes depict corn products that were essential to the Maya diet, like a woman distributing a platter of tamales to a crowd in one panel, while a man and woman in another scene serve maize gruel.